Archive | December, 2010

Happy holidays!

By Aaron Hoos on December 21, 2010 in From the desk of Aaron Hoos

I look back on 2010 with mixed feelings.

Business has been very good, surpassing my expectations (in spite of the economy). I’m booked solid for 2011 already, and that’s something to be excited about. And when business is good, I’m happy because I love what I do for a living and because my clients are happy. Thank you to my many valued clients for allowing me to be part of your business.

Other aspects of life, however, added some challenges to the year: The passing of a loved one, a big flood that required me to move my office, an absurdly busy summer, a sports injury, and some stalled home remodelling… all of these took a toll.

So it was a year of good and bad. But I’m still standing and I’m still doing what I love to do. And I am so excited about what’s in store for 2011. Right now, I’m putting the pieces in place for some new initiatives as well as a (long-awaited) book. Stay tuned!

Have a safe and happy holiday and here’s to a prosperous New Year!

Testimonial

By Aaron Hoos on December 19, 2010 in Portfolio

“Pleasure to work with! Will use again”

-Impulsive Profits

Just read: ‘Seven Strategy Questions: A Simple Approach for Better Execution’ at Henry Alzamora’s blog

By Aaron Hoos on December 18, 2010 in Business

At Henry Alzamora’s blog, writer Robert Simons offers up seven questions that businesses need to ask themselves to focus their efforts and execute more effectively.

I’ll list the questions here, but go over to Alzamora’s blog for more details:

  1. Who is your primary customer?
  2. How Do Your Core Values Prioritize Shareholders, Employees, and Customers?
  3. What Critical Performance Variables Are You Tracking?
  4. What Strategic Boundaries Have You Set?
  5. How Are You Generating Creative Tension?
  6. How Committed Are Your Employees to Helping Each Other?
  7. What Strategic Uncertainties Keep You Awake at Night?

Read the questions and further explanations at: Seven Strategy Questions: A Simple Approach for Better Execution.

Lists like these are extremely valuable to help you focus and cut through the clutter of the things that vie for your attention. Take the time today to start answering these questions in your own business.

Favorite video: Investment strategy – When to invest in a business?

By Aaron Hoos on December 15, 2010 in Finance

In this fifth of 5 videos, Janice Roberts shifts away from customer trends and talks about investment strategy, exploring the question “when is the right time to invest in a business?”

Watch it on Academic Earth

A sales funnel lesson your business can learn… from a non-profit organization

By Aaron Hoos on December 9, 2010 in Business

Tonight I was cleaning up after supper and there was a knock at my door. The guy at the door assured me that he wasn’t selling anything or trying to change my religion, and he introduced himself as a representative of one of those charities helps people sponsor impoverished children. (You know the charities I mean. I don’t want to name the specific charity here but they are a decent charity and you’ve probably heard of them, and my wife and I have supported them in the past).

He then gave me a little presentation about the work the charity was doing. Although I didn’t sponsor a child with this rep’s charity, I was really impressed with their sales funnel and thought that my blog readers might learn a valuable lesson for their businesses.

First, a side note: Charities do have sales funnels; the “sale” is when you donate money or sponsor a child. Non-profit sales funnels operate exactly the same way that for-profit sales funnels operate.

THIS NON-PROFIT ORG SALES FUNNEL
The rep immediately assured me that he did not want any money. (That got my attention because it was exactly the opposite of what I was expecting). Instead of collecting money, he had a collection of photos of needy children and what he wanted to do was leave one of the photos with my family over the holidays and then someone would call us in January to see if we were interested in sponsoring the child.

HERE’S WHY THIS SALES FUNNEL IS GENIUS
People love to own things but they don’t like the transfer of money. Or, in the case of non-profits, people love to help others but they don’t like the transfer of money. In short, people don’t want to part with their cash. But with this sales funnel, people don’t have to part with their cash. (Not yet, at least).

Not only that, but people don’t want to take a big step.during a transaction. Big steps mean change and people generally don’t like the discomfort of change. But with this sales funnel, there was no big step, only the seemingly innocent photo leave-behind of a needy child.

What this organization is doing is playing into people’s natural tendency to say “I’ll think about it” when confronted at their door. But the genius of this sales funnel is: The customer doesn’t have to commit to anything, they don’t have to pay for anything, they don’t have to make any major changes in their lives. They only have to pick a card and say the one thing that they already wanted to say anyway: “let me think about it”.

The result? This organization gets pictures of needy children into homes over the holidays. Most people won’t throw them out (at least, not immediately). They’ll see the picture of the child over the holiday season, the picture will be diametrically opposed to the enjoyment and relative luxury of their own family holidays, and they’ll be more likely to support the child when they get a call in the New Year.

Sure, not everyone will sponsor a child. But this is a great way to get more people to sponsor a child.

THE SALES FUNNEL LESSON YOUR BUSINESS CAN LEARN FROM THIS NON-PROFIT ORGANIZATION
There are three lessons here:

First, minimize the “pain” of transacting money. This non-profit basically said “you have until to January to decide”. For your business, this might mean moving your paygate to a different location in your sales funnel. Or it might mean changing how you define ownership of the product or service you’re selling (i.e. changing to a lease-to-own model rather than a buy-outright model). There are several things you can do to raise the sense of ownership while you reduce the need to pay.

Second, make the steps in the customer conversion very, very easy to take. This non-profit didn’t make the conversation about supporting a child but rather about choosing a photo. For your business, this means changing the transaction into smaller steps that are far more palatable for the customer.

Third, work with your customers and their natural tendencies. This non-profit knew its prospects would say “let me think about it”… which is exactly the answer they were looking for. For your business, this might mean something similar: Find out what your prospects want to say and work with that. Find out your prospects’ biggest objection or delaying tactic, and turn that into a step in the sales process.

Favorite video: Customer trends – The economics of free

By Aaron Hoos on December 8, 2010 in Finance

In this fourth of 5 videos, Janice Roberts talks about a customer trend that is also a business model: The economics of free. This one seems counter-intuitive but it’s the way business is now… and the way it will continue to be!

Watch it on Academic Earth

A taxonomy of resources: Mining what you have to get where you want to be

By Aaron Hoos on December 7, 2010 in Business

Have you ever started researching something only to discover you already had the information in a really convenient place? Have you ever started on a project only to discover that you already had a good portion of it completed but tucked away in a dusty file? Have you ever stared blankly at a folder of ebooks and downloaded resources and wondered when you’d find the time to review this information?

This happens to me all the time and I’ve decided to do something about it, and I thought I’d share it with you.

HERE’S THE PROBLEM
Although I only noticed the problem recently, I’ve been amassing valuable information over time. I’ve got textbooks from my stockbroker days and from my MBA; I’ve got tons of downloaded materials (ebooks and podcasts mostly) that have been purchased or given to me; and I am an avid book collector with shelves of business books.

Amassing all of this information is good — in theory — except that I have reached the point where I simply have too many resources to manage. Where can I find information on this topic or on that topic? There are potential resources everywhere.

HERE’S WHAT I’VE BEEN DOING ABOUT IT
So I’ve started creating a taxonomy of resources. A taxonomy is the classification and ordering of a group of things. And I’ve decided to classify my resources according to where in the life of a business they can be most helpful.

So first I developed some life-of-a-business classifications. (Actually, I had these classifications hanging around for another purpose and I used them here).

  • Find a customer problem
  • Find a creative solution
  • Create a business model
  • Create a sales funnel
  • Build a compelling brand
  • Implement the business model and sales funnel
  • Grow the business
  • Exit the business

Next, I’ve started reviewing my resources and plugging them into the appropriate places. Sometimes an entire book fits in one category, sometimes an entire book fits into more than one category. Sometimes a single chapter from one book fits in one category and another chapter fits somewhere else.

As my list has grown, I’ve had to create sub-categories to make it even more useful. So the “Grow the business” category might include sub-categories like “Leading and Managing”, “Productivity and Efficiency”, “Tipping points”, etc.

JUST IN CASE YOU THINK I’M CRAZY
On the (hopefully) slim chance that you think I’m crazy, let me tell you why I’m doing this. It’s not because I have a ton of time on my hands I’m looking to burn it by sorting a big pile of resources. The real reasons I’m creating this taxonomy are:

  • To make my business more agile: I’ll be able to respond to the changing market by quickly finding the right resources to guide me.
  • To make my customers happier and my business more profitable: I spend a fair amount of time chasing down information that will help my clients. This will help me to speed up that process.
  • To make better use of my investments: Like most entrepreneurs I’ve met, I have invested in a fair amount of resources and have only scratched the surface in terms of using them. I want to change that. I want to open them up and mine them for the gold that’s inside.
  • To identify gaps: I’m going to find sooner or later that I’m missing something important. The categories listed above are the areas where I tend to help clients a lot, and if I find that I’m missing resources there, I can easily see it and correct it.

I’m going to keep it really easy to do and easy to access. I’m not here to create something ponderous and academic — I want it to be insanely usable.

IT DOESN’T STOP THERE
My short-term plan is to add my books, textbooks, ebooks, and podcasts to my taxonomy. Later, I might consider adding research notes, web bookmarks, and network contacts to this process… but that’s down the road.

WHAT YOU CAN DO
Give it a try. You don’t have to use the taxonomy categories I’ve used; create a list of categories that’s useful for you. (I chose my categories because they applied to my business but would also apply to my client’s businesses, so I could easily find the right resource regardless of whether I was working in my own business or a client’s business).

Start small: If you have a ton material, break it up to keep it manageable. Just do one shelf of books at time. Or plan to do one ebook per week. Don’t plan to do it all because it could become overwhelming. I’m not reading all of my resources as I “taxonomize” them, but I am finding it to be a useful exercise to be reminded what each resource contains.

Make it useful: Use the type of system that works for you: I’m using Microsoft Excel, only because I’m comfortable in spreadsheet. I was tempted to use a database but I wanted to start really fast and with no barriers, and a spreadsheet fit the bill.

Purge a little: It doesn’t hurt to discard resources as you go. I found an ebook I downloaded from 2002 about using search engines. I found it tucked into a forgotten folder within a forgotten folder within a forgotten folder… and it belonged in a museum.

Think long-term: Stick with this project. It may not be done next week or next month; in fact, it might not be done for a year. But you will finish and you will start reaping the benefits faster than you realize.

Do it because it’s profitable: This will be a profitable exercise for you: You’ll run a better business and you’ll make more effective use of existing investments.

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